January 29, 2004
Staffer works for doggone good cause
Joanne Estacio-Deckard, a UW social worker and medical school counselor, admits she has a serious soft spot for animals. She owns a German shepherd and a black Labrador retriever, not to mention five cats and assorted fish. And, she’s more or less adopted the dog of a homeless man who lives in the U District — buying it food and walking it on occasion.
So it’s no surprise that when Estacio-Deckard heard about Chase the dog, she couldn’t help wanting to do something.
Just after Christmas, someone shot Chase near his home in Lake Stevens with a compound hunting bow, sending the arrow tip an inch and a half into his skull. Estacio-Deckard, who lives nearby, saw it on the news.
“Usually I just try to avoid thinking about it when I hear those kinds of stories,” she said. “But this time I thought I just had to do something to help.”
What she did was go to Washington Federal Savings in Everett and start a fund to create a reward for the identification of Chase’s attacker and to help pay the dog’s medical expenses.
“I thought it was important in this case to try to catch the person because people who inflict harm on animals often go on to do the same thing to humans,” Estacio-Deckard said.
The fund has now grown to $1,440, and Estacio-Deckard has designated $500 of it as a reward for information that leads to the perpetrator.
Chase, meanwhile, is recovering. Paralyzed on one side right after the attack, the German shepherd-malamute-pit bull mix is now walking again and appears on the way to recovery. Estacio-Decker got to meet the dog and his owner, Larry MacDonald, for the first time last week. She and MacDonald have agreed that if there is money left over in the reward fund when Chase has completed medical treatment, they’ll donate it to help elderly owners pay for veterinary care for their pets.
Anyone who would like to donate to the fund should make the check out to “For the benefit of Chase” and send it to Washington Federal Savings, 10410 19th Ave. SE, Suite 100, Everett, WA 98208.
